TFL, GlockTalk, AR15.com make the Paper

[Ivy Mike]

The first thing I thought of when I read that editorial was, uh-oh, they caught us.

Then I remembered that most of us just follow the rules of said poll and only vote once...isn't that what they were hoping for?

Most of the time I open a poll in a separate window, vote once, close the window and go back to wasting my free time on forums like this.

Perhaps someone could send in something to that effect to this "author" and see what the response would be. I'd be willing to bet that the number of single voters is probably significantly higher than multi-voters.

 

[Cindog]

Wonder if he realized that he's now open to a class-action suit for libel by publicly stating that the pro-gunners "cheated," and "tampered with the poll?"

Generally speaking, statements about a group of people or organizations can not be defamation.

So, an allegation that The High Road was a bunch of cheaters and tampered with the poll would not be defamatory but an allegation that a specific THR member was a cheater and tampered could potentially be defamtory.

 

[R.H. Lee]

Somebody should inform these clowns that the RKBA is absolute, not negotiable and not dependent on phony 'polls'.

 

[Ironbarr]

Suppose...

when "the call" comes, I copy the TFL/AR15/GT link to my clipboard, open a new browser page, paste the link into the address bar, and go to their site - would that not give them my IP without the trail through the forums?

Huh? Huh?

.AndyB

 

[PromptCritical]

I sent the editor an email and got a response:

And just to keep your bias in check, would you have published that article
if the poll ended up 80% the other way?

PromptCritical
Member, Glocktalk, AR15.com, TheFiringLine, TheHighRoad

Our response would be the same if the other side cooked the numbers.

Donald W. Meyers
Editorial Page Editor
Daily Herald
P.O. Box 717
Provo, Utah 84603
(801)344-2544 (voice)
(801)344-2985 (fax)
[email protected]

The views expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Herald or Pulizter Newspapers Inc.

Yep. Somehow, I'm not convinced. Oh well...

 

[ccw007]

It's a testament to how well organized the gun groups are. They communicate rapidly and effectively with their comrades in arms.

Good work comrades in arms ! I loved this line I think it is great they see we have the ability to communicate rapidly and effectively.

By the way I voted in the poll and will vote in every one I see now

 

[Burt Blade]

The Herald's E-Media department tallied the computer addresses from which the gun poll votes were coming. The records showed heavy traffic coming from Internet domains hosted by gun groups, the largest being from ar15.com, a Web site catering to owners of the Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. The site linked to the Herald poll and was followed 2,577 times. Many other pro-gun sites had links to the poll, including sigforum.com, glocktalk.com and thefiringline.com.

They very carefully worded this, eh? How dare someone post a link to their poll and encourage folks to vote! They say people _could_ multi-vote, not that anyone did. The _traffic_ came from gun sites, not votes, but they sort of fuzz that, eh? 24000 votes from mostly pro-freedom types is obviously a "fix".

They don't know _anyone_ who voted for Reagan or Bush, either.

 

[Ironbarr]

Pulizter

?????????????????? Feller needs a spell-checker.

.

 

[tyme]

I thought one of the comments was particularly lucid:
http://archive.harktheherald.com/ar...Pages=&IncludeImages=&mode=allwords&sortPref=

...Publishing the results of an unverifiable poll is just as irresponsible as publishing an unverifiable news article. But we see news outlets do both every day.

That's what it boils down to. Internet polls are ridiculous. Publishing them as anything other than humor or as informal results to be taken with several pounds of salt is irresponsible. Polls only mean something if they're solicited randomly, like phone polls. Even those are skewed because not everyone answers the phone, some people hang up on survey takers, etc. Passive polls where voters must seek out the poll taker are patently absurd.

 

[SapperLeader]

Its a given that all polls are pretty biased towards a issue, particulary internet ones. That said, I dont see anything wrong with posting a link to a poll, and following that link to vote on it.
Im sure some people might of voted multiple times, and Im sure even more of us, followed the link, posted a response about following the link, and went on with out perusing of the gun boards. Its pretty cool though, that our "comrades in arms" were so succesful

 

[Sleeping Dog]

It's a testament to how well organized the gun groups are.

Organized? I've been called a lot of things, but "Organized" is not one of them. My reloading bench is a testament to chaos. (maybe "organized" chaos?)

Regards.

 

[Stratford Holdings]

I've skimmed through this thread and I don't find that the poll or the editorial are a big deal. Maybe the thing to be considered is that they were trying to get local opinion. The Daily Herald is a smaller paper and has a smaller circulation than the Deseret News or the Salt Lake Tribune.

Whether or not loaded guns should be allowed in cars without a permit, getting a permit is simple and not difficult in Utah. Considering Utah has almost 62K Permit holders in a population of rougly 2.4M people, that's a little better than 1 in 40. Include LEO's in there and it's probably lower.

This is almost a moot point here in Utah. And, when you get 24K votes and you only have a circ of roughly 32K readers, something would appear not right.

All IMHO.

Newspaper Circ
http://www.nationwideadvertising.com/adinprovutpr.html
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2003/mdia_2003-11-27.cfm

CCW Stats
http://bci.utah.gov/CFP/Firearm Statistical Review/firearmrev_200404.pdf

State Population
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html